Sex, Love, and Gleeful Revenge - Lesley Gore and Chappell Roan
Written by Honora Quinn
In my mind, Lesley Gore and Chappell Roan are two sides of the same coin. Both were signed to their first labels at the age of 17, both have found extreme and perhaps terrifying amounts of fame at a young age, and both are influential queer pop stars. Lesley Gore passed away in 2015, leaving behind an impressive, and often overlooked, backlog of music, which – albeit through a very straight lens – captured the ruckus and nuance, the chaos and glamour of being growing up a young woman in love. In her debut album, The Rise and Fall of A Midwest Princess, Roan charts into similar waters, though updated for the modern musical palette. The following playlist, which I have crafted, ventures to bridge the gap between these two artists. So, keep an open mind and descend into this mix of carefully selected musical pairings, with it I hope to paint a more colorful backdrop of sex, love, and gleeful revenge amidst our dreary gray reality.
“ It’s My Party” (1963) – Lesley Gore
If you think you don’t know Lesley Gore... yes you do.“ It’s My Party” was Gore’s first single and is what initially launched her into the public eye. Our first song brings us right onto the dance floor hearing as Gore laments how her boyfriend – Johnny – has left her for another girl... AT HER OWN BIRTHDAY PARTY! Set to a surprisingly upbeat backing, this song is a tale of woe you can dance to, cry to, or plot revenge to. It’s not exactly a song of getting back an at ex but about that feeling when the rug is first pulled out from under you, and you need a moment to catch your breath before launching back.“ It’s My Party” is the best entry point into her catalogue, channeling a very relatable“ sad but not surprised” anger we find permeating within Roan’s music and lyrics and a lot of modern music.
“ My Kink Is Karma” (2022) – Chappell Roan
“ My Kink Is Karma” is, a song about the unadulterated glee one gets from seeing the downfall of their ex. I see this as the next stage for our“ It’s My Party” narrator, after the tears have subsided, we find her filled with anger for the person she once found comfort or love in...so she tears him to shreds. In both cases we find narrators quickly cast aside by their partners having to rebuild their sense of self but taking an emotional pitstop before fully moving on. It’s messy to break up, it’s messy to be in love. Our sadness and anger often run in and over each other as we attempt to grapple with our new reality and“ My Kink Is Karma” is an energetic respite from the sadness.
“ Judy’s Turn to Cry” (1963) – Lesley Gore
Our next song is the sequel/response track to“ It’s My Party.” Another upbeat number that focuses on the trio of Judy, Johnny, and our narrator. This is a song of gleeful vindication, of besting a romantic rival, it’s a song with a harpsicord… what’s not to like? When we look into the text of the song it is certainly a pivot from the previous Roan. We find our narrator getting back with her boyfriend after he leaves her, even crafting a fight between him and another boy as a way to prove his love. Because of that, this might not be your favorite of the list and that’s okay, it’s included because of that frenetic chill you get when something bad happens to the people you hate, because it’s the second part of our revenge arc.
“ Good Luck Babe!” (2024) – Chappell Roan
For the sake of this playlist, I see“ Good Luck Babe!” as Judy’s response to the whole ordeal. It’s a song you can picture playing as our narrator and Johnny get back to dancing, Judy watching from the sidelines. It’s a tale of lost love, similar to It’s My Party but with a notably queer twist. It’s a call to stop hiding from who you truly are, to stop hiding from who you really love. We can view this as Judy’s last word, her warning that this love match, so hardily fought for, is not worth it if it means hiding from the truth. Here, the party comes to a close, our primary characters move on, and so shall we... as we have plenty more to cover.
“ You Don’t Own Me” (1963) – Lesley Gore
Again, if you say you don’t know Lesley Gore...yes you do!“ You Don’t Own Me” is a song that has fully absorbed into pop culture. It has been featured in The First Wives Club (1996) (and many more projects) covered by the likes of Joan Jett, SayGrace, The Blow Monkeys (for the film Dirty Dancing (1987)), and the pairing of Kristen Chenoweth and Ariana Grande. This, besides It’s My Party, was Gore’s SONG. It has been hailed as a proto-feminist rallying cry in which Gore begs the men in her life to just let her live, to recognize the double standard they put to her. It’s one of her strongest early songs vocally and textually, building from a slower and quieter lull into a belt, by the final lines of the song she seems moments away from screaming, her expected cool feminine edge burned away by a palpable rage I expect most of us are feeling these days.
“ Casual” (2022) – Chappell Roan
I chose to pair“ Casual” with“ You Don’t Own Me” not because I think“ Casual” is Roan’s equivalent song in terms of“ her best” or most notable, or because they sound similar, but because of the adjacent emotional space it occupies. Casual too is a song about sexual freedom, of confusion with your partners and their actions. In 1963, Gore balks at the double standard of her having to keep only one partner while her boyfriends can play the field, of being held as a trophy to be won rather than a woman to be cherished. In 2022, we find Roan in a similar situation. Roan details a relationship that is not casual in the slightest, of being engrained into every aspect of her lover’s life, knowing the parents and siblings, going on vacations, and picturing a life where they can be together. However, the partner does not want to fully commit leaving Roan in a place of romantic limbo, right along with Gore.
“ After He Takes Me Home” (1996...it’s complicated) – Lesley Gore
My next pairing is a set of deep cuts that tackle the same topic… your date just left, you’re home alone with nothing but your memories and find yourself attempting to deconstruct the date and fantasize about what they’re up to now, if they are lying in bed dreaming about you.“ After He Takes Me Home” is a tonal shift from“ Casual” and I admit that. But what it more in line with Chappell than mixing some of the softest lush ballads ever with a sudden jump into the fantastical and dance worthy?“ After He Takes Me Home” is an initially unreleased song that Gore recorded during her Mercury years in the 1960s, however it found its way to us via various compilations like 1996’s as It’s My Party: The Mercury Anthology. After a date Gore spins us a tale, detailing her wishes for reciprocated feelings and of dreaming in the dark, which leads us perfectly into the next Roan track.
“ Picture You” (2024) – Chappell Roan
This has slowly grown to be one of my favorite Chappell Roan songs. While the bright, upbeat, dance-y pop is what Roan is best known for (and for good reason!) I think her voice really shines on these slower numbers. The light twang, the imagery and flow of the lyrics, this song is perfection that further encapsulates the emotion highlighted in Gore’s number, albeit more graphically. Here again we find lovers parted, those same feelings of lying along in bed at night, pouring over the memories and wondering if this is all one sided, if your lover finds their own mind wandering to the passions shared and time lost. This is the first non-single from Roan featured on this list and, I would argue, one of her deeper cuts. However, it’s absolutely beautiful and the list wouldn’t be complete without it (or Gore’s comparable song!)
“ Love Me By Name” (1976) – Lesley Gore
The final Lesley Gore song on this list is one of my all-time favorites. Jumping ahead from the Mercury Years to A&M we find the powerful team of Gore and Quincy Jones reunited. The result is a weird and wonderful 1970’s response to Gore’s earlier bubblegum pop written by Gore and Ellen Weston, (a new feat in her career after periodically writing solitary features) that incorporated disco elements into her signature sound.“ Love Me By Name” is a standout, from an album of standouts, a slower ballad that really shows how much Gore’s voice has grown and changed in the 12 years since her musical debut. It’s a song that reflects on fame and youth while brimming with hope that there is a future for her yet and that she could be welcomed back into the spotlight after all this time.“ Love Me By Name” is also in a way, Gore’s final song. In 2005 while recording what would become her final album Ever Since she rerecorded the track, while ultimately scrapped from the project the song was released in 2023 as a bonus track on thedeluxe edition of the album. Again, we see her voice change, the weight of all that has happened since 1976 with the music subdued down to a solitary piano, Gore’s voice, and occasional guitar or drums. It is a testament to an entire career and one of the songs I would personally love to see Roan tackle in the future if she were to ever cover one of Gore’s. While the 1976 version is the one I include on this list, give the 2005 version a listen – I genuinely got chills.
“ California” (2020) – Chappell Roan
Yes, another ballad. I want to end off this list with another of Roan’s (in my opinion) masterpieces, the single was released in 2020 before all of her largest hits would change the face of pop music. It’s the effective inverse of“ Love Me By Name”, where we have someone attempting to return, envisioning a future that will never come to pass, here with California we have someone who thinks they are at the end of the line. Here Roan apologizes for chasing this dream, how she was told nothing would come of her musical fantasies, and yet we know the story to follow, how she would burst into stardom – practically overnight – just like Gore back in the 60s. If any two songs on this list are in conversation with each other, it’s“ California” and“ Love Me By Name.” And if you listen to the playlist on a loop after“ California” is“ It’s My Party”, further placing these stories as two sides of the same coin, and Gore and Roan as two young women swept away into the maw of fame conversing through time and space.
